Power converters are used in a variety of portable electronic devices including laptop computers, cellular phones, personal digital assistants, video games, video cameras, etc. They may convert a dc signal at one voltage level to a dc signal at a different voltage level (this is a dc-dc converter), an Alternating Current (ac) signal to a dc signal (this is an ac-dc converter), a dc signal to an ac signal (this is a dc-ac converter), or an ac signal to an ac signal (this is an ac-ac converter). In many applications, power converters have standby power guidelines that specify the amount of power they can consume. As these guidelines become more stringent, power converter manufacturers are faced with improving the active mode efficiency during light load conditions and during no-load conditions. For example, power consumption guidelines for power converters are fast approaching the specification of consuming less than 100 milliwatts when left connected to the mains in a no-load condition.
In the race towards greater power efficiency, designers are chasing every source of power loss in the power converter. To lower power consumption, it would be advantageous to have a power converter and method for suppressing the current consumed in the regulation circuitry of a power converter. It would be of further advantage for the power converter and method to be cost efficient to implement.